spec-to-rtl

spec-to-rtl — the runner-orchestrated AI authoring step

What this skill IS

The deterministic authoring path for IC classes WITHOUT a registered rtl_gen generator. Spec → RTL fundamentally requires a language model (open-benchmark- methodology skill § 1); this skill is how the runner delegates that step to the AI inside its own pipeline, so the surrounding gates still fire.

Invocation contract

When design_one_shot_runner.step_rtl_gen WAIVES with the message:

IC class 'XXX' registered but rtl_gen=null. Recommended action: AI invokes skill spec-to-rtl.

…the AI MUST:

1. Read the L docs the runner just emitted:

   • <project>/phase1/generated_docs/L1_*.json (product metadata, IC name, target clock)
   • <project>/phase1/generated_docs/L2_*.json (functional spec)
   • <project>/phase1/generated_docs/L3_*.json (external interface — ports)
   • <project>/phase1/generated_docs/L7_*.json (verification plan / truth-tables)
   • <project>/phase1/generated_docs/L9_*.json (constraints, top_module name, top_ports)
   • For Path-A (NL prompt) projects, ALSO read the original prompt at <project>/input/phase1_prompt.md or <project>/input/docs/*.md. The prompt typically has clearer port-name and behavioral details than the auto-extracted L docs.

   — and CONSULT THE CAPTURED-LESSON DIGEST (MANDATORY) — The runner's WAIVE step deterministically writes <project>/phase2/stage1/lessons.md (and sets lessons_digest + lessons_count in its handoff extras): a chip-AGNOSTIC digest of every ### Skill: genre/topology convention captured from prior recoveries. BEFORE you author, OPEN it, keyword-match THIS design's genre against each section's **When to apply** line, and APPLY every match. These are general patterns (frequency/clock-divider dual-edge-OR LEVEL topology, shifter logical-vs-rotate default, FIFO Gray-pointer, restoring-divider remainder width, overlapping-sequence FSM re-seed, valid/ready handshake inference, …), NOT per-problem answers — applying them is REQUIRED, not optional. A runner-driven author that skipped this re-invented a genre-determined topology from the prompt's loose wording and failed; this is the SAME digest Shape-C blind authors already MUST read.